KCC: No safety rules broken in Wichita natural gas accident

Kansas Corporation Commission leaves door open to study safety issues

The Kansas Corporation Commission found no rules were broken before a natural gas fire in Wichita, but left the door open for new regulations to prevent future incidents.

The issue came up after the KCC staff investigated a fire when a gas line was ruptured during a public works project. Dondlinger and Sons Construction Co. was digging to install a new sewer main in Wichita on May 4 when crews hit a Kansas Gas Service main line. Gas was released and caught fire, causing more than $100,000 in damage and affecting service to 21 homes.

No one was injured in the accident, but the staff noted in their report that someone could have been if members of the digging crew had been in the trench when the gas ignited.

The report found neither Dondlinger nor KGS had broken any safety regulations, and the accident stemmed from confusion about which lines were abandoned and which still had gas flowing through them.

KGS had laid a new line 7 feet below the surface in 2012 to accommodate a road project in Wichita, leaving two abandoned lines above the new one and 30 inches below the surface, according to the report. Dondlinger crews only knew about one abandoned line, however, so when they found two they thought they had found the abandoned line and the one in service. They dug below the two abandoned pipes, accidentally striking the line that actually was carrying natural gas.

The report recommended KGS provide cities and engineers involved with public works projects information from available records about abandoned pipe and about lines that are more than 4 feet below ground, which is deeper than usual. Under current rules, gas companies have to identify active lines, but not abandoned ones.

KGS argued that it had made the depth of the line that was being used clear at a pre-construction meeting and that it couldn’t assure abandoned lines are in a certain location when work is being done around them. It also made the legal argument that the KCC couldn’t impose new rules in that way unless the company had broken safety regulations.

The three commissioners agreed and voted to close the investigation, though they suggested it could be worth investigating the potential costs of regulating how abandoned pipes are marked and whether doing so might prevent accidents.

“This seems like it could be suitable to a more general investigation or research,” said KCC chairwoman Shari Feist Albrecht.